Unraveling the ecological landscape of mast cells in esophageal cancer through single-cell RNA sequencing.

Background: Esophageal cancer (EC) is a major health issue, ranking seventh in incidence and sixth in mortality worldwide. Despite advancements in multidisciplinary treatment approaches, the 5-year survival rate for EC remains low at 21%. Challenges in EC treatment arise from late-stage diagnosis, high malignancy, and poor prognosis. Understanding the tumor microenvironment is critical, as it includes various cellular and extracellular components that influence tumor behavior and treatment response. Mast cells (MCs), as tissue-resident immune cells, play dual roles in tumor dynamics. High-throughput single-cell RNA sequencing offers a powerful tool for analyzing tumor heterogeneity and immune interactions, although its application in EC is limited. Methods: In this study, we investigated the immune microenvironment of EC using single-cell RNA sequencing and established a comprehensive immune profile. We also performed analysis of upstream transcription factors and downstream pathway enrichment to further comprehensively decipher MCs in EC. Besides, we performed knockdown experiments to explore the role of epidermal growth factor receptor ( Results: Our analysis identified 11 major cell types, of which MCs were particularly present in pericarcinoma tissues. Further grouping of the 5,001 MCs identified 8 distinct subtypes, including Conclusion: These findings illuminate the complex interactions within the tumor microenvironment of EC and suggest that targeting specific MCs subtypes, particularly via the